block and screen printing addiction

Thanks to my dear friend xiu, I know of Fictive Fingers and their awesome works. I signed myself up for their screen printing class and before I knew it, I was hooked.

These days, I document most of my creative stuff via instagram so this one is taken from one of my instagram posts. (Please do follow me! arielthemerrow )

Anyway! The class was really fun and free. I don't mean FOC. But the freedom to work at our own comfortable pace, use our own designs, etc. The two owners Hani and Aisah are really sweet and helpful! They don't interfere in your decision making process - they just provide advises on the end product. "If you want it to look like this, this is how you can do it.." You know. Encouraging. I love them. That's why I went back for their block printing class.

After the screen printing class, we brought home a small kit including the stencil paper (for screen printing), rubber block and carving knife (for block printing), and a booklet introducing themselves and with pictorial guide on how to do block printing. The guide is really detailed so that you don't have to attend the class to actually learn how to block print. But, I still went for the class because I love the owners, their class and because of my believe in learning things best in person.

My mum has this belief that I strongly stand by - even though books and the internet are available, it's still best to pay some money to learn "that something" in person. She loves to cook and bake etc. So for her, even though the recipe is exactly the same, she won't be able to get it right unless she first learn it from a teacher in person. Then eventually using a few recipe to perfect her own.

Same logic here! The guide was detailed yes. But I needed to see the carving in person to actually get how it works. How to control the knife, how to carve, etc.I must say, I'm addicted to block carving. Carving on a rubber block is so easy. 

Look at my latest stash of blocks I've carved so far. I'm an amateur so my blocks are definitely more simple. But I've been printing them on fabrics and it all works out pretty fine. The only disadvantage is that my blocks are so small - it takes alot of time and effort to fill an A4 size fabric.

I've also recently tried printing my own wrapping paper. Turns out the effect is not too bad! But lesson learnt: never use normal printing paper because they tear so easily! It was so hard to wrap! (sadly, the recipient didn't seem to appreciate my work.)

This is my most recent work. Was just doodling as I watch TV. Then I came up with this design. It's for screen printing. Yes I bought my screen and squeegee from Fictive Fingers (good quality at a relatively affordable price) and a beginners' set of paint from Art Friend. It's my first attempt to screen print at home and I was over ambitious! It's so hard to control a huge piece of fabric (1m x 1m is abit too big for a beginner like me), especially to dry them. I officially consider my attempt failed. Will try again this weekend.

So keep a look out!